The Chase Through Cyberspace Begins
by sarin68
Summary: Psy-420 is fresh on the scene and chooses a hard first chase. Vi-138 is growing weary of the lack of challengers but finds a willing new candidate. No definite yaoi yet, but it'll at least be hinted or shonen-ai. Psy/Vi, AU, T for lang.
1. Chapter 1

_So this isn't my first fic with these alters, but I like this one the most so far. It's about how Psy-420's pursuit of Vi-138 began from my perspective. I hope you enjoy! Please leave a comment about any complaints you may have or if you just want to tell me that I don't suck!_

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><p>Virus-138 decided he hated people.<p>

All they did was stand there, staring. Couldn't they understand that no one likes to be stared at? He readjusted his headphones and turned on the music. It helped him blend in, but they all knew his face anyway. Fucking losers.

The headphones were a requirement of all programs with a designated job. They were connected to a transmitter one carried with him/her. At first they were a way to weed out the low-lifes from the rest of society, but then the lowest of the low managed to get their hands on their own headphones. Now the only way to determine a virus from a regular program was to check his/her designation.

He took out a spray can he pilfered from a stupid store earlier and began to shake it.

Vi heard footfalls and knew the people he saw earlier had scattered. They may have not run upon recognizing him, but no one wanted to be around when a crime was being committed.

"Hey you!" someone cried out.

Vi barely heard it over his music. He assumed it was the blanks calling out to each other and positioned his can to begin his work of art.

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><p>Psychedelic-420 made sure to straighten his tie and headphones before leaving his office for his first day out on the town. He was nervous about how everyone would view him.<p>

Did he look too much like his mother? What about his father? Did he look as green as he was? Well, in terms of being new. What about too serious? Was he too innocent looking?

"Stop fretting and just come out here," Psy's partner Eagle-1702 laughed from outside the door.

Psy chuckled nervously and then did as he was told.

"See? You look downright spiffy."

Psy couldn't help but laugh at that. "Spiffy? Eag, I think you've been watching too many old recordings."

"No way! Those are the classics, Psy! Can't get enough of them!"

They laughed together and left the building.

Outside was as organized as ever. Programs weren't prone to erratic behavior, and were creatures of habit. So they tended to walk in straight lines down the sidewalks or drive perfectly between the lines with the perfect amount of space between themselves and the car in front of them. It would be disconcerting if one was used to chaos and disorder, but to Psy and Eagle it looked perfectly normal.

"Looks all clear here," Eagle reported in. He put on his glasses to scan the populace more thoroughly. "Yep. Nothing to report. We can move on."

Their patrol continued for another straight hour with nothing standing out.

"Won't there ever be any action?" Psy sighed while Eagle scanned.

"Looks like there will be now. Hear that?"

Psy perked up and put on his own green sunglasses. Green was the color of the antiviruses so ordinary citizens could easily identify them. He scanned in the direction of Eagle's gaze and his glasses picked up a faint irregularity.

"Is that music?" Psy asked Eagle once the signal was picked up by his transmitter and sent to his headphones.

"Sounds like. You better report this while I get closer. Target isn't identified yet."

"What's so dangerous about music?" Psy asked while obeying his senpai.

"Music isn't playing on the radio right now. It could only be coming from an irregular." Eagle grabbed Psy's arm and pulled him into a ground of tall, cleaning programs. They would be hidden from their target for now.

"How many irregular programs are there again?"

"Only a few. Viruses and of course us antiviruses being the likeliest of the two."

"But what if it's a different irregular?"

"Not likely and so not worth considering. Stop asking questions. You're sounding like one of them."

Psy nodded and followed his senpai until they suddenly broke out of the crowd and into a giant pen space. The other programs were walking around this place in a giant arc, altering their set path for some reason.

"Oh shit," Eagle swore. His glasses were flashing and he immediately backed up into the crowd.

Psy didn't understand and just stared at the back of the program standing in the middle of the empty circle. He had a spray can in hand, and that was completely against regulation.

"Hey you!" Psy called out.

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><p><em>So I won't keep this POV the same throughout the story. I will try to keep the amount of times I tell the story from both main characters' POVs even, but no promises. The next one will be entirely from Psy's because of the length, but I'll do a full chapter from Vi's as well, so don't think I'm shortchanging poor Vi.<em>


	2. Chapter 2

Psy felt a yank on his shoulder and tumbled backwards into Eagle as he was forced backwards.

"You're an idiot, Psychedelic!" Eagle hissed at him. "Don't you recognize him?"

Psy glanced back at the man who had started spray-painting the wall. It irked Psy that the thin raven program would dare perform such a blatantly disrespectful act. "Should I?"

"Those distinctive red headphones should be a dead giveaway. Those were discontinued after he affiliated himself with them. Only other viruses dare wear them now."

"How do you know it's 'him' then?" Psy asked, picking up on his pronoun use.

"Only his outfit mirrors ours. We believe he likes the contrast. I also believe that is why he sticks with the color red, because it directly opposes our green. He challenges us any way he can, so I assume his style of dress is just another way." Eagle looked scared.

Psy grinned. "Then we better confront him."

"Are you out of your—"

Psy broke free from Eagle and the crowd to storm up behind the virus. "I think you've had enough time to rethink your actions," he said with a deepened voice to sound impressive. "Stop what you are doing or I will be forced to deactivate you."

The virus whirled around but did nothing. He raised an eyebrow and asked, "Who are you supposed to be?"

"An antivirus," Psy grinned proudly. "Ready to turn yourself in?"

The virus nodded and raised his arms in defeat. Right as Psy moved to grab them, the spray can went off and coated his entire face with its red paint.

"Why you…!" Psy growled as he tried to regain his vision. It was only thanks to his glasses that he still had usable eyes but they were rent useless and so served to cripple him. "I'm gonna—"

"Toodles!" the virus teased. Psy removed his glasses in time to see him dance away.

"What the hell were you thinking?!" Eagle yelled as he pulled away from the crowd. "He could have easily deleted you! Is that what you want? Huh?!"

"Lend me your glasses!" Psy said desperately. "I will catch him! I swear!"

Eagle paused but then sighed and gave in.

"You won't regret this," Psy called back at his partner as he took off after the virus.

"Not without me!" Eagle called and kept pace with his partner. "I may be letting you take the lead, but I'm not leaving you up the creek without a paddle."

Psy was busy with hooking up the glasses to his transmitter. "What?"

"It means I'm not leaving you."

They didn't have to run very long before their target was sighted. Ordinary programs avoided the virus like he was diseased. The dark, red figure was easy to spot and so easy to shoot at.

"AIM!" Eagle ordered.

They stopped together and began firing. Aiming didn't require an order as it was part of their training to always keep aim on the target. They only said it because it was an easier word to say than 'open fire' or 'take him out'. They only shot to disable unless it became deadly where shooting to delete was allowed.

The virus avoided the shots like they were cars instead of tiny, piercing data streams. He wiggled his fingers back at them with his thumbs stuck in his ears.

Psy took off after him again and the virus turned to run in response. Eagle was a little delayed but copied his partner.

Suddenly the virus turned and aimed something at them. Psy's new glasses recognized it as a pistol and warned him of its danger potential.

"COVER!" Psy cried as he dove to the side to avoid any shots fired.

Eagle wasn't as lucky. He didn't have his sunglasses to warn him of something his eyes could barely register and his auditory senses weren't as accurate during a chase. As a result, he paused after hearing Psy's outburst, leaving him a target for the virus.

Three sharpened data streams hit him in the chest. He fell over as the virus took off running again.

"EAGLE!" Psy screamed and ran to his partner's side.

The other antivirus coughed and smiled. "It's not as bad as it looks. There's no pain at all."

It was all bravado and Psy knew it. The three wounds were festering and soon the holes they created were much bigger. His chest was changing color from green to red as the virus's data was infecting him, changing him as it destroyed him.

"How could he do this?" Psy growled. He felt tears well-up in his eyes but refused to let them fall. "It was me that picked the fight! Why you?"

"Because I was careless," Eagle said calmly. "Will you listen to me now?"

Psy nodded and did his best not to cry.

"Don't give up. That guy's fast, but I've never seen another antivirus who can keep up with him before. You're better than I expected."

"But I didn't do anything!" Psy cried. "I just left you defenseless! It's my fault you're being deleted!"

Eagle chuckled. His data was being corrupted slowly, with his chest barely still intact but red spreading out to his limbs. "You're not afraid of him. You're probably the only one left who isn't. Don't be disheartened like the rest of us! Here."

He used what was left of his arm data to grab his gun and hand it to Psy. "Your weapon? But duel-wielding is illegal."

"It's illegal unless you're justified, right?"

"That doesn't sound like something you should be saying."

Eagle chuckled. "No good antivirus plays by the rules, Psychedelic. Maybe one day you'll learn that." His limbs were fading and now so was his face. He was smiling and continued, "You have the potential to be the best. Make sure it isn't wasted."

Psy hugged what was left of him until his data was completely gone and his program completely disappeared. Then the blonde antivirus slowly got to his feet and stared off to where he knew the unnamed virus was waiting for him.

He loaded Eagle's gun with his own data and started walking.

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><p><em>So I kind of forgot about this fic, no lie. But I thought about this couple again and wanted to continue. Just needed a little editing and was good to go. Please review! It means the world to me!<em>


	3. Chapter 3

_Holy crap! It's been SOOOO long since I've submitted anything. I hate college work. It gets in the way of my fics._

_I also apparently wrote another chapter and never edited it. Well, enjoy._

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><p>Vi was surprised that the antivirus was back up after the loss of his partner. Surprised, but pleased. A challenge was very much welcome. He ran another two blocks before turning to make sure his pursuer was still on his tail.<p>

The antivirus was blonde, which was very rare, but it somehow worked for him. Unlike the bulky, ugly headphones that most of the law enforcement wore, this one had sleek and stylish headphones that set him apart as being a thoroughbred.

_Well this will be interesting,_ Vi thought. He fired a warning shot behind him and watched the blanks scatter in confusion.

"Stop involving innocents!" the antivirus called out to him.

"Why?" he asked back. "They're just blanks. They can be remade."

"Blanks?"

Vi turned and aimed his pistol at the approaching antivirus. "That's what I call the pointless programs. Their minds are blank, and so they don't deserve to be called people."

The antivirus slowed to a stop and then raised his own pistols.

Vi smiled at them. "Duel-wielding? Breaking the law now?"

The antivirus scowled. "You killed my friend."

"He'll be replaced easily enough."

"That's not the point."

"But you don't refute it."

"Shut up! I'm going to delete you!"

"Only if you can manage it."

The antivirus fired and Vi dodged. Two data streams were harder to avoid, but Vi managed it without too much difficulty. Thank goodness he had experience running from others and predicting their shot patterns. Antiviruses liked to boast that they were irregular programs and so had their own minds, but their training made it incredibly easy to believe otherwise.

"Was that your best shot?"

The antivirus growled and continued firing.

"Ouch. You almost hit me with that one. You better be careful with those."

Vi turned to run and the antivirus ran after him.

"What's your designation?!" the antivirus yelled.

"My _name_ is Vi. Vi-138. It's short for Virus. Nice, right? What's your name?"

"My designation is Psychedelic-420."

"So Psy then."

"Only my friends call me that!"

Vi had to quickly duck behind a parked car to avoid some of Psy's shots. The stinking antivirus had some good aim.

"Can't we be friends? You can call me Vi, I don't mind."

"NO!"

Vi fired a shot behind him blindly and made a dash for a ladder leading up a fire-escape. He jumped and grabbed it with one hand, firing at the blonde with his other hand. He hastily scaled the rest of the ladder and did his best to dodge the antivirus's return fire.

Psy was faster than he thought. As soon as Vi was on the roof, Psy had begun to climb the ladder. Vi ran and jumped the small distance from this building to the next. He heard Psy climb onto the roof and fired behind him.

He heard a cry of pain and grinned. Normally he didn't run. Normally it was them that ran from him. This one was very interesting. He stopped running after jumping onto another building and turned around.

The antivirus had ran to the edge of his previous building already, right on his heels despite his lead. But his arm had began to discolor. Vi's shot had just grazed him, but that was enough. Vi had been the one who designed the poison data shots. Antiviruses refused to use the information on principal, but the viruses were less stuck-up. Psy had to stop to catch his breath, it seemed, before joining Vi on the next rooftop.

"Giving up already?" Vi taunted him. "And here I thought this would be a fun chase for a change."

The antivirus growled and brought his right arm up to fire a shot, the left hanging limply as it slowly turned red.

"You better do something about that," Vi continued as he danced out of the way. "You don't wanna end up like your friend, ya know?"

The antivirus growled and fired a few more shots before gripping his useless arm with his useful one. The spot where he was originally hit had already begun to disappear. He was barely infected, but the poison was strong.

"Want me to help?" Vi asked. "I hear that the best way is to cut off the limb!"

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU FOR THIS!" Psy yelled and tore his arm off. The gun bounced to the ground, but the arm fell soundlessly, continuing to degrade until it was gone.

"It was just an arm," Vi sighed. "Not that big a deal."

"I will make you pay for the friends you've killed!"

Vi shrugged and then jumped to the side a foot, falling two stories and hitting the ground hard.

Psy gasped and jumped down after him.

Vi laughed and took off running. Vi had reinforced his legs with extra data as he hit the ground to prevent anything from being damaged. He did it all the time to escape more gullible or hasty antiviruses. They generally hurt themselves when following him or being forced to jump themselves. Vi hoped the antivirus was smarter than that.

The raven heard a scream of pain behind him but didn't turn to look. It was time to leave. If the antivirus was injured further then Vi could easily take it as a chance to escape. He wasn't a masochist and he didn't want to die. He just wanted to have fun with the life he had.

Vi left the antivirus behind. He hoped the man wasn't badly injured, because it would be such a waste to ruin a new toy so soon.


	4. Chapter 4

Psy swore as he watched the virus run away. He hadn't predicted how much data he needed to reinforce his legs with so ended up using too little and causing one of his legs to break on impact with the ground.

He yelled after the retreating raven but then focused his attention on repairing his legs. He wasn't good at repair orders and doing it with only one hand was worse. He hastily put his gun down to run his hand down the broken legs to find the broken parts to fix them. He couldn't figure out how so strengthened the data around the breaks instead. It would get him back to the precinct at least.

He had made sure to stash Eagle's gun in his holster while he held his assigned one, but he double checked that it was still there and stuck his gun into his vest before looking around for a clue to where he was.

A taxi broke off from the rest of traffic and stopped next to him. "Need a ride?" the driver asked him with a polite smile.

Psy limped over to the car. "Are you programmed to go to the antivirus precinct in quadrant 6?"

"Of course," the driver replied. "Get in and I will deliver you to wherever your destination."

Psy sighed at the scripted response and got in. He typed more precise directions into the radio system and leaned back into his seat while the driver redirected the taxi into the street.

While they drove Psy took out the data pad attached to his belt and noticed that he had been sent a message to return to the precinct anyway. They no doubt knew about Eagle by now and probably had recalled him in for questioning or reassignment. Rookies weren't supposed to be out on their own.

He sent a quick message that he was on his way and then plugged the data pad into his arm. It downloaded all of the information about his body and what was wrong with it. Using that as his guide he was able to repair his broken legs. It didn't help with his missing arm, but that would be replaced soon enough upon his return to the precinct.

The taxi driver was slow by his standards but driving was faster than walking and Psy was at the precinct soon enough. He got out and the taxi rejoined the traffic streaming by.

Psy glanced at the giant green building and walked slowly towards it. He heard a few shots being fired but ignored them as the sound was common at the precinct. Normal programs avoided the place out of caution rather than fear but the antiviruses liked it better that way. They were sworn to protect the normal programs and the city, but it was difficult if the other programs got in their way or bothered them too much with patrol requests.

As soon as Psy opened the door he was pulled inside by his boss, Anti-617. His parents had high hopes for him career-wise and it was convenient that he ended up with the occupation they wanted for him. If he hadn't, that name would've been a constant reminder of his failure.

"Think you're above the rest of us already?" the older man growled in Psy's face.

"No," Psy began. "Wait, what? What's this about?"

"We ordered you to return to the precinct an hour ago!" 617 spat. "Don't think that your family can help you out of this one, either. This was a serious mistake on your part."

Psy snarled and wanted to swat his boss's hand away from his collar where it had been since he'd been pulled inside. Instead he forced his voice to be calm and said, "I don't know what you're talking about. I was too busy until recently to even check my data pad. Would you mind telling me what you're so upset about?"

617 sighed and released his collar. "You rookies think you know everything. Well, I've lost better rookies than you for better reasons, so you better watch yourself."

"Is this just because I was late then?"

"No. This is because we have recordings of you running around town chasing the virus at the top of our Most Wanted list! What could've gone through that rookie head of yours to convince you that it was a good idea to chase him, I'll never know. But don't do it again! Got it?"

"Sir, I was merely trying to apprehend the man who murdered my partner!"

167 glared at him. "Don't think you're better than us, rookie!"

"I would never think that, sir."

167 _humph_ed and left the room, gesturing behind him for Psy to follow. They went into the meeting room where all of the officers not on duty were gathered to mourn Eagle.

All data pads immediately registered when their connected program became incapacitated and signaled the precinct for help. In situations like Eagle's, the recovery signal wouldn't be completed and so every antivirus in the precinct knew he was gone.

Psy didn't want to hear all the kind words the other antiviruses had to say about his partner. Eagle had been his mentor and his friend, and he didn't want to accept that the other man was gone. He stayed silent even then the others looked at him to put in his two cents. 167 nudged him but Psy just looked away.

"Getting a little cold are we?" a female voice said.

Psy turned to see who it was only to actually smile. "509! What are you doing here?"

She pushed past him and began speaking to the other antiviruses about what Eagle had been like when she knew him. He had also been her mentor when she was still in the academy. Hearing her speak made Psy want to cry but he refused to.

When she finished speaking 167 dismissed everyone. He glared at Psy as he left.

"Want to take a walk?" 509 asked when it was just the two of them left.

"I need to take care of this first," he said, shrugging his shoulder that felt ridiculously light without his arm hanging off of it.

She smirked. "Already earned yourself a battle wound? Really, Psy? Thought you were supposed to be part of the best and brightest."

He turned to lead her out of the room and nudged her with his shoulder. "Only better than some according to the academy. What are you doing nowadays?"

She followed with a shrug. "Security. I'm on border patrol starting tomorrow. Just thought I'd stop by since we've both finally finished our training." She paused. "You want to tell me what happened?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

He nodded.

"That's a load of crap, 420. Antiviruses don't lose arms for nothing." He stayed silent. "And they don't die for nothing either."

He whirled on her and used his good arm to pin her against the wall. He glared while meeting her accusing look and asked, "Are you saying it's my fault?"

"No, but it probably was." She didn't look away. That stony look of hers always made him weaken his resolve for reasons he couldn't name.

He released her and continued on his way to the medical program they kept at the precinct. Antiviruses were harmed more than regular programs so it only made sense that they would keep one at hand.

"If you don't tell me what happened I'll ask your captain, and I doubt he'll disagree with where I've been placing blame."

He stopped and looked back at her. "It was a fucking virus, okay? Just one measly fucking virus."


End file.
